


You're Doing Great

by redandblueskies



Series: Julance 2020 [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Blade of Marmora Keith (Voltron), Comfort, Crying, Hurt/Comfort, Insecure Lance (Voltron), JuLance Challenge 2020, Kuron is Shiro (Voltron)'s Clone, Lance & Keith can be seen as platonic, Lance (Voltron) Angst, M/M, No Romance, Shiro/Kuron is mean to Lance, Supportive Keith (Voltron)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-05
Updated: 2020-07-05
Packaged: 2021-03-04 21:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,467
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25082797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/redandblueskies/pseuds/redandblueskies
Summary: For Julance Day 5: ComfortEver since Keith left to join the Blade of Marmora, things changed around the castle. Lance feels like he's all alone, so he makes an impulsive decision to call Keith to talk. Lance ends up spilling his frustrations out, and Keith knows exactly what to say to make it all better.
Relationships: Keith & Lance (Voltron), Keith/Lance (Voltron)
Series: Julance 2020 [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1816603
Comments: 8
Kudos: 138





	You're Doing Great

**Author's Note:**

> This is actually my first klance fic. I wrote this quickly at midnight with no beta because we live life on the edge. I live for langst with comfort, so this was really fun to write!

Lance sighed as he stared up at the ceiling of his bedroom. He was finally laying down in bed after a long day of harsh training, his bones screaming in pain. Shiro has been pushing them to train to the point of exhaustion lately, and Lance knew that Hunk and Pidge were probably in just as much pain as he was, so for the sake of his friends, he tried to tell Shiro multiple times that they were exhausted and needed a break. Anytime Lance suggested a break only resulted in Shiro reminding him how much he still needed to improve. As if Shiro needed to remind him that. 

After training, Hunk and Pidge isolated themselves to work on modifications for the lions. Allura and Coran were busy contacting the Balmerans to ask for supplies, and Shiro was off on his own somewhere. Lance didn’t bother trying to look for him. Lance and Shiro’s relationship was not in a good place at the moment. 

As a result of all the paladins being busy and having no one to pester, Lance was in his room alone, contemplating for the past half hour if he should call Keith, who is currently still with the Blade of Marmora. Ever since Keith left, there was a shift in atmosphere at the castle. Keith may not be the loudest person, but his absence was extremely loud. Just before Keith left, Lance felt like him and Keith were just starting to put their extreme rivalry aside and were beginning to become good friends. Lance would be lying if he said he didn’t miss Keith. 

Now, Lance was debating whether he should call Keith. What would he even say to him? Would Keith be annoyed that Lance is calling him? Would he even respond? He’ll probably just find Lance annoying. 

But Lance knew he was not okay. Pidge and Hunk don’t include him in their activities anymore. Allura and Coran are more focused on missions and work than wanting to talk to Lance. And Shiro? Shiro isn’t acting like himself. He’s always angry at Lance and pointing out all his flaws for everyone to hear. At the moment, Lance has no one. In his world, where he thrives on being surrounded by people who love him, he’s alone. 

After that thought alone, Lance did not hesitate to sit down at his desk, and open up the device which is supposed to be an altean version of a laptop. He searched up the code that Keith had given the team for video calls, and took a deep breath before hitting the call button. 

As Lance waited for Keith to pick up, he took the opportunity to look at himself in his window at the bottom left of the screen. His hair was disheveled, he had dark eye bags below his eyes from sleepless nights, and his skin was looking pale. 

And of course, as soon as Keith picks up, his face appears on the screen, with his black mullet looking soft and healthy, his face smooth and perfect, and his eyes shining bright looking back at Lance. Typical. 

Lance put on the best smile he could muster up, “Hey man! Hope you’re not too busy, I was just calling to see how you’re holding up! I bet you’re missing home, huh?” Lance grinned. 

Keith smiled back softly. “Hey Lance. We’ve been going on mission after mission here, things are… very different here than they are over there at home, but I’m getting a lot out of being here.” Keith said, his smile faltering for a moment as he started back at Lance, then he spoke, “I’ll admit though, I’m surprised you’re calling me since none of the other members have called me since I left. Is everything alright, Lance?”

Lance struggled to keep up his natural front. “Oh, totally! It’s just, you know, Pidge and Hunk are busy and don’t need my help, and Allura and Coran are also busy and don’t need my help. So I’m just… I just wanted someone to talk to.” 

“What about Shiro?”

Lance’s blood froze. Before he could even stop himself, Lance muttered, “Shiro doesn’t like me.” 

Keith’s eyes widened, left speechless. As soon as Lance realized what he said, he chuckled brokenly, “Sorry! I was just kidding, dude! Shiro’s doing fine, he-” 

“What… what do you mean Shiro doesn’t like you?” Keith asked, cautiously. 

Lance’s smile was replaced by an anxious frown, “N-nothing, forget I-”

“Lance.” Lance paused, looking away from Keith’s gaze. “Please talk to me. What’s going on?”

It was then, Lance realized, that Keith could probably see right through him from the moment he picked up the phone. Lance’s appearance wasn’t in the best shape, and he’s been exhausted physically and emotionally, on the verge of tears all day. Keith was offering to listen, and that's the whole reason Lance called in the first place.

Lance took a deep breath before he began. “Shiro’s been acting way different since you left, because now he seems angry all the time, especially at me, and he never lets me add my input to group plans and he’s constantly reminding me of how much I still need to work on myself and how I’m the one one who needs the most work on this team in both physicality and intelligence, which makes me question if I even deserve to be a paladin or not, and he pushes us way too hard to the point of exhaustion in training and I try to get him to let us take breaks not just for me but for all of us, because I care about my friends even though they don’t care about me but every time I try to give him advice or suggest anything, let alone just  _ talk _ to him he just- he just yells at me,  _ all _ the time I’m so-”

“Lance. Lance, breathe. Calm down.” Keith said, in the softest yet firmest voice Lance has heard. Lance could only reply with a sob, as he then realized that half way through his rant he started crying, his face now tear stained as Lance ran a hand through his hair, breathing like Keith told him to. 

“I-I’m sorry, it’s- it’s been-”

“I know. It’s okay, I get it.” Keith reassured, watching Lance as he desperately tried to stop the flow of tears, but they just kept coming, like a broken dam. Keith, realizing Lance wasn’t going to continue talking, began to lead the conversation. “So, Shiro’s been acting differently?”

Lance nodded. 

“And you say he’s angry and yells at you and pushes everyone too hard?”

Lance nodded. 

“That doesn’t sound like Shiro at all.”

Lance shook his head, “It might just be that we’re all under stress with these missions and getting accustomed to the lion switch,” Lance sniffled. 

“Right…” Keith said, despite not sounding convinced. Lance watched as Keith took a moment to think and process everything, and saw him let out a sigh. “Lance. I don’t know what Shiro has been telling you, or what he  _ hasn’t  _ been telling you. But I hope you know that you’re doing great. I don’t have to be there to know that. I know you’re probably never going to let me live this down, but since the first day we got stuck here in space up until now, you’re the one who’s improved the most.”

Lance’s eyes grew wide, not expecting to hear Keith say that. But Keith continued on, “You’re an essential part to the team. They need you just as much as you need them. There’s a reason why you’re probably taking most of the heat from Shiro. You’re the only one who confronts him and you stand up for others. And that is exactly what it means to be a paladin.” 

Lance’s eyes watered with fresh tears, but this time, they weren’t from pain. Lance watched Keith sitting up straight on screen, a smile on his face, his eyes screaming trust and honesty. Lance allowed himself to plant a genuine, fond smile on his face. “Thank you, Keith.” 

Keith chuckled, “All I said was the truth.” His smile slowly disappeared as he realized there is still the issue with Shiro that will continue to happen. “Hey, so for the next 2 days, we don’t have any missions planned out. I can try to convince Kolivan to let me go back home for those 2 days, and we can go talk to Shiro, together. We’ll see what’s up with him and try to fix the situation. How does that sound?”

Lance’s old signature goofy grin was plastered on his face, retorting back, “Sure dude, but if you’re coming back because you miss us so much, that’s all you had to say, Mullet.” 

Keith rolled his eyes, “Typical Lance.” 


End file.
